The Ginza shopping district is the source of the famous images of Tokyo
as a lit-up city. While we here there the main street was closed, and
the throngs were getting ready for their Christmas shopping.
As I pointed out, even though there are few Christians, Christmas is
in full swing in Japan. One imagines that Japanese merchants came to the
USA, saw the frenzy and said "This Santa-San thing is a gold-mine." And
thus Santa-san was everywhere, and I don't know if I should be pleased or
insulted that with my blond hair and big western body, children mistook
me for him sometimes.
Below you will see some gift fruit from the basement of the ritzy
Mitsukoshi department store. The Dept. stores are hard to tell from the
ones in New York, other than the fact that everybody is Japanese. And
of course the melons.
Gift giving is huge in Japan all year round. The train stations are
full of stands selling food -- but not for you to eat, but instead
nicely wrapped at high prices for you to give. You would not dare take
a trip without a gift for the people you would be seeing. Look at the
prices on the melons and fruit below.
If any Japanese visit you, buy a Cantaloupe at 98 cents/pound and put it
in a nice box. They will think you really love them until they visit
a local store.
Nobody eats these $125 cantaloupes. They are reportedly quickly re-given
as gifts until they are too close to rotting. The whole point is not that
the melon is worth that much, but that everybody knows it is expensive
and that you really cared (or really recycled.)
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Twilit view of the Ginza shopping district, with the road closed.
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Crowds just loved this department store with animated lighted tree and Christmas wrapping on the store
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A scam artist sells a tiny doll that seems to dance on its own. I hoped the flash would catch the fine string running from the pocket of the guy in the plaid shirt to his bag, allowing the doll to defy gravity. As I started pointing it out, the scam artist got really annoyed. He was selling these paper dolls for 1000 Yen!
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I thought this was a great Ginza scene. See and be seen while you get your hair done. Plus HairMake is lovely Japlish.
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Ginza at sunset, as it starts to light up
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The tree with various patterns of blinking lights (attracting a strangely large crowd) and the round San'ai building that is the landmark of Ginza
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Gift fruit boxes. See more below, but note that we're talking 6,000 Yen ($50) for a box of strawberries, $4 for a Tomato, $1.60 for a Mandarin Orange
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Melons, the king of the gift fruit. The nice cantaloupe in the center is going for 15,000 Yen -- about $126. Or you can get a pair for just 20,000 yen to the right. Japanese rarely eat these melons. In fact, they often immediately are recycled into a gift for somebody else.
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The San'ai building at the main Ginza Yon-chome crossing, a Tokyo landmark.
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Another part of the Ginza ur-crossing, including the famous Mitsukoshi department store. (Where you find the melons above.)
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